


anything for you.

by xuhaovt



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, JunHao - Freeform, Kids, M/M, custodian minghao, soft, teacher jun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 09:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18312548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xuhaovt/pseuds/xuhaovt
Summary: Junhui probably isn't cut out to teach, not everybody is right? Or maybe he just needs a little help. With a little motivation and an incentive Minghao is happy to help with, Jun can turn his whole class around.orjun is a teacher and minghao is the custodian that has to clean his insanely messy classroom every day. maybe the kids fall for minghao faster than jun can admit to himself he has too.





	anything for you.

**Author's Note:**

> before reading this, I just want to note that I am American so yes this entire thing is Americanized as I don't know myself anything about the Chinese or Korean school system. I did not want to attempt a scenario I am not familiar with and completely butcher any customs that come along with the education and culture in these countries. Besides the one time I used "Wen Junhui" instead of "Junhui Wen" be aware that everything else is completely Americanized.
> 
> // i have begun taking prompts and requests(svt pairings only)!! leave them here: https://curiouscat.me/honeyanann

Confidence is key. That’s what they tell you. Confidence is key. These people obviously never worked with kids.

It’s Wen Junhui’s first year of teaching; fresh out of college and starting the new year at an elementary nearby. He hasn’t worked with kids as much as he wishes he had, so it’s understandable why it’s difficult for him to manage his first classroom. He just didn’t think it would be as difficult as it is.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, you have a tough batch of kids,” one of Junhui’s new colleagues consoles him. It’s been three weeks now since the start of school and it’s been very rough on him. Junhui felt himself lucky to be able to have supportive colleagues, many of them advising him on his classroom management and teaching style. However, Jun is the only new hire this year, everyone else having at least five years of experience on them, so he can’t always be convinced to believe that the classroom’s poor behavior and performance isn’t entirely his fault. If he had gotten opportunities while he worked on his degree to get more experience with kids then maybe it wouldn’t be as hard as it is. He couldn’t blame the kids for being, well, kids after all.

Another week passes of the same, no progress is being made. Junhui’s frustrated to say the least. The kids are awful to each other besides a handful. They’re constantly being mean to each other, don’t use basic manners, won’t ever listen when Junhui is trying to teach a new lesson or when he attempts to scold them for hitting or anything else of the sort. _Third graders are supposed to be sweet,_ Junhui thinks one day in the midst of yet another one of his students coming up to him to tell him so and so did something to them. What Junhui thinks is worse is that because of the constant chaos in the classroom, he really isn’t able to teach them anything. One whole month of school gone by and Junhui is really beginning to think he’s not cut out for this, he can’t do it.

“Everyone, make sure you pick up the crayons from the floor, the classroom’s been left too big of a mess every day this week,” Junhui says in his kind, yet loud enough voice. One thing he’s learned is that the kids definitely won’t ever listen to him if he speaks in a soft tone or even by yelling.

“Why? The janitor cleans it up everyday anyway,” Jeffrey speaks up through the lollipop in his mouth.

_Where did he even get the candy from???_

“The _custodian_ isn’t your maid, this is our classroom, we should be keeping it neat, like you keep your rooms neat… and throw the candy away, please,” Junhui replies as he begins to pick up crayons himself. He knows he shouldn’t be doing the cleaning up for them but he constantly feels bad the classroom always looks like a tornado hit it. He’s never been able to really get the kids to clean up after themselves besides a few of them. This is the problem, and Junhui knows it, there’s lots he should be doing differently but he doesn’t know where to _start_.

“My room is a mess,” giggles Mark, allowing other kids to chime in with how dirty their rooms are.

Junhui sighs, Jeffrey doesn’t throw his lollipop away and the final bell rings.

Junhui rushes to pack up his things. Every day after work he goes home to watch his little brother. There hasn’t been anyone around to be able to take care of him so Junhui is left to be the only one to do it. Unfortunately this means Junhui doesn’t have time to tidy up the classroom like he wishes he could. It’s the least he could do to help the evening custodians yet he can’t even do that. This time, Junhui decides the very very _very_ least he could do is write the poor custodian a message on the whiteboard for him to see.

 

~I’m so sorry the classroom is left in such a big mess every day. We’ll try to do better! Thank you so much for your hard work!~

 

Junhui sighs deeply after writing the message, taking a brief second to recollect his tired self before packing up the rest of his things and rushing out.

  


.

 

 

Ass. That’s what Minghao would describe his life as. Ass. School is ass, work is ass.

Minghao is in his 4th year of university. It should’ve been his last, but because of a semester break he took and how much he works, he still has two more years to go. Since he’s been taking it slow though, there’s more space to breathe and less to stress out like the rest of his friends. So maybe his life isn’t _that_ terrible, but it’s really in his dna to complain.

“Okay nope, this really _is_ ass,” Minghao grumbles under his breath when he opens the door. It’s by far the messiest room at the school; there’s pieces of paper littered across the ground, crayons everywhere, even a lollipop stick.

_Why is this teacher even letting his kids eat candy?_

Minghao pulls his cart up to the side of the door and goes inside to start putting this room back together. It’s not in his job description to fix the desks or tidy up things like the teacher’s desk and things around the room, in fact he’s not allowed to, but this is the only room he takes the exception for. He knows he’s definitely helping the teacher in the room more than disrupting their environment. This of course means he takes much longer in this room than other rooms, and he really shouldn’t, he doesn’t know why he cares so much to try to help the mess of the class.

When he’s all done he takes a look across the whole room, just to take in just how nice it looks now before he comes in Monday again to the havoc that’s going to be created. It’s then that he sees the large message on the board, only now being aware of it standing out.

“Thank you so much for your hard work,” Minghao reads under his breath then chuckles lightly. “At least they have manners,” Minghao says to himself, and walks up to the board to write his own message in response.

 

~Happy to help ♡~

 

He writes underneath the previous message and turns on his heel to walk out and find his cart outside. He locks the door behind himself and moves on to the next room. He rushes through this one, cleaning the bare minimum and continuing on through the rooms.

 

 

.

 

 

Junhui is ready this morning, he’s going to take control of his class and turn everything around, he’s got this. He spent the whole weekend going through his child development textbooks, watching seminars online by retired teachers and even ted talks, along with anything else he could possibly research to figure out what he needs to be doing and what he’s doing wrong.

_One step at a time, you can do this Junhui, I believe in you_.

Junhui takes a deep breath and steps out of his car to walk inside. He came to work as early as possible today, deciding he’s going to give the whole room a makeover, new environment, new rules, new class. In the midst of his decorating, Junhui notices the message the custodian left behind and smiles widely. He even left him a heart of all things. Junhui had it in his mind the custodian was going to be an older person who wouldn’t care to even reply to his message. Considering the almost calligraphy style beautiful handwriting and the cute little heart drawn, Junhui really can’t think this is some old man cleaning their room. He leaves the messages on the board, knowing this is a good opportunity to show his class later and continues on with his classroom makeover.

When the kids walk in(for the third try this morning, completely silent mind you) their eyes are glued to the message on the board. Among the things Junhui has picked up from what he learned this weekend was getting his kids to come in quietly, which took unexpectedly less tries than he thought it would. The first time, the kids came in loudly, asking immediately about the message on the board, not going straight to their seats etc etc. This time, they all took their new seats in such an orderly fashion Junhui couldn’t believe this was really his class.

“Two more minutes to finish up the warm-up,” Junhui speaks to the whole class, who’re still dead silent.

“Then are we-,” one student speaks up, who immediately stops in his tracks when Junhui shoots him a look. Another student looks up at their teacher then back to the student who first spoke.

“Raise your hand,” Jasmin whispers quietly. Ah yes Junhui always knew he could trust her.

“Are you going to tell us about the message after warm-up?” Bao asks after tentatively raising his hand and is given his turn to talk. Junhui nods in response and the kids begin to squirm excitedly in their seats, some of them forgetting their first rule and beginning to talk again.

  


.

 

 

Minghao smiles, fondness creeping up inside him. He’s on his nightly round through the classrooms and has finally reached Mr. Wen’s room. The first thing he sees today this time is a bunch of messages all over the whiteboard. In tiny and big writing, all in different colors are a classroom’s worth of “Thank you”’s. Most of the handwriting is sloppy, as expected of third graders but it warms Minghao’s heart. Taking a look around the entire room, he notices today it’s already much less messy than it is usual. There’s nothing on the floor but the students still have things out on their desks and this time the paperwork and teacher’s desk are messier than usual. This really means that his job is a lot smaller than usual considering he’s not supposed to touch the teacher’s things or student’s desks. He’s only required to vacuum and throw out the trash as well as fix anything broken and refill soap or paper towels at the sink. The white boards and desks are only wiped clean on Fridays. Minghao knows this time he shouldn’t touch any of the things that are out, as it look more of a purposeful mess than it has before. Minghao, for once only does his required tasks then goes to the board to write his own message in response.

 

~You’re welcome! I love the new classroom look : )~

 

He happily walks out of the room, a lot earlier than usual this time and continues through the rooms.

 

 

.

 

 

A couple of weeks pass like this. It’s the beginning of October now and Junhui has made significant progress in the classroom. The students are beginning to use the manners Mr. Wen teaches them, they’re advancing academically, and they’re becoming a lot closer as a classroom. Junhui still has some troubles with behavior and sometimes the classroom is still left a mess at the end of the day but he isn’t too hard on his kids. They’re learning, they’re growing and Junhui couldn’t be prouder of both them and himself.

The messages have continued to progress, something left every day between them. Junhui added a reward system this time for messages left on the board. A handful of students get to earn their spot on the board at the end of the day and get to ask Minghao a question on the board. By this point they are all aware of his name, and all though Minghao had once written that he’s okay with being called Minghao, or Hao, Junhui insists on the kids calling him Mr. Xu out of politeness. The kids are always excited to ask all sorts of questions.

 

~What’s your favorite color?~

~I love every single color, I could never pick a favorite~

~Do you like dogs?~

~I love dogs! Cats and frogs too!!~

~How old are you?~

~22, I’m 23 on November 7~

 

The questions are always minimal like this, Junhui is sometimes afraid their custodian will get bored with answering such simple questions but everyday they have responses on the board. The beautiful handwriting always puts a smile on all of the kid’s faces as well as Junhui’s. He really can’t be more thankful for Minghao.

 

 

.

 

 

One day, on his usual nightly routine, Minghao looks around Mr. Wen’s room as he vacuums the near clean floor. There’s art all over one of the sides of the room. It’s… not the best he’s seen. It’s not that the kids have terrible artistic skills, but that the obvious assignment given limits their creativity drastically, leaving them with poor results. Minghao frowns at this. He knows he can’t blame Mr. Wen for this, as he probably got this idea from the curriculum he’s given. Minghao knows by all the work on the walls that the kids are improving well in every other subject besides this. _I can do something about this,_ Minghao thinks to himself, his mind already buzzing with ideas. That night he goes home to go through his old art projects. Some of it, he knows he could change up to fit perfectly for third graders. He looks up a lot more ideas online then, just before stores begin to close for the night, he rushes out to buy what he needs.

 

 

.

 

 

“Okay, okay I know we’re all excited,” Mr. Wen tells the jittery class after they’ve finished their warm-up. Junhui turns to grab the large gift bag that was left on the stool at the front of the room. Because of this, the kids have even forgotten their usual excitement of reading the responses Minghao left to their questions. “Who wants to raise their hand and try to guess what it is?” Junhui says with a large smile. Immediately almost the whole class raises their hand, giggling and squirming even more, excited to give their guesses.

“Maybe it’s a train set!” Caden guesses when he’s called on. The other kids react in excitement, some agreeing and others disagreeing. Junhui waits until the class settles down again, which doesn’t take long.

“I think it’s food!” Samara suggests, which doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone in the room. She’s always thinking of food.

“Okay alright let’s see what it is,” Junhui finally says after taking a few more guesses. He opens up the gift bag and peers inside, making an exaggerated excited expression when he does. This creates a chorus of ‘Mr. Wen show us! What is it? What is it?’ Junhui smiles to himself, and pulls out one of the things inside, a small canvas. The kids react in excitement again, though Junhui’s sure over half of them don’t even really know what it is.

“There’s a whole class set inside,” Junhui tells them, then continues to take out the rest of the items. He finds primary color paints, the canvases and paint brushes. Along with this there’s a few papers stapled together with a list of art activities, instructions and a message at the top just for Junhui.

 

~I noticed the art in your room and realized your kids have a lot of potential for greater work. I hope you can use any of these activities with them. I would suggest only letting them use the canvases until after they’re familiar with the basics of colors, which I included a lesson for. I apologize if I’m overstepping, I wish you all the best! With love, Xu Minghao~

 

Junhui takes the list of activities home with him that night and recreates his lesson plan for Friday to include one of the activities Minghao suggested. He couldn’t be more thankful this time around for Minghao’s help. He knows himself that he’s lacking in this area but because of his focus on the academics, he hasn’t been able to look into new things to do for art on Fridays.

 

“I don’t even know what to do at this point to show how much I’m grateful for him,” Junhui sighs, turning the straw in his drink around distractedly. He’s a little tipsy he’ll admit, but not too much that he can’t hold this basic conversation.

“Just tell him you love him already,” Soonyoung replies. He’s already used to the constant talking about Minghao this and Minghao that. Sure Junhui has never met the man himself but he already feels too close to him. It’s been over a month now since the messages started between them. Sometimes Minghao left messages just for Junhui on his desk, to which Junhui would reply to as well. They were simple but not constant like the ones on the board. Sometimes Minghao would ask how Junhui’s day went and other times they talked about Minghao’s career plans. At this point, because of the amount of questions the kids asked and their own individual conversations, Junhui knows entirely too much about who Minghao is.

“I don’t love him,” Junhui deadpans. He takes another sip of his drink then sits up straight. “I’m just really glad he’s helped out this much not only with cleaning but even now with my art projects. The kids love him too, they’re so excited to hear about him and constantly ask about meeting him. It’s too cute. They even want to throw him a birthday party,” Junhui says with a smile. The look on his face is dreamy to say the least. Soonyoung laughs a little.

“Maybe you should ask him to visit,” he suggests.

“No no, I couldn’t ask him to do that, he already does so much for us,” Junhui says immediately with a shake of his head. Junhui already still feels bad on the days the kids leave a mess on the floor they don’t have time to tidy up or even now that Minghao went out and bought the whole class supplies. It’s too much really. Sure, the thought of meeting the mysterious custodian is tempting. Junhui has spent time before imagining what Minghao could possibly look like, what his voice sounds like, anything. But, unfortunately he’s never going to be able to meet him.

 

It’s a Tuesday when Jun’s mother lets him know she has the day off and is going to take care of his brother that day. This means of course that for once in two months, Junhui has the entire afternoon off. Junhui doesn’t rush to clean up his things this time when school is over. He thinks about just going home anyway, as he always does, but then realizes this could really be his chance to meet Minghao. Of course the custodians don’t come on campus until 5pm, but Junhui has a lot he can work on in the classroom that can keep him occupied until then. He tries to tell himself he’s only staying to do work, but eventually he has to admit the opportunity to meet Minghao is what’s really keeping him there.

The first thing Junhui does is organize materials and paperwork around the classroom. He tidies up the shelves, the books in the room, the cabinets and everything else. Once he’s done with that, he decides it’s a good time to replace the artwork on the wall with new ones. The kids did two different of the new activities Minghao suggested but it’s not until now that Junhui has the time to put up some of this work up on the wall. He picks the best ones of the two activities to put up, happy this time around to show off his students’ incredible work. He’s about halfway done, standing on one of the counters to reach high up on the wall, when he hears keys outside and the door beginning to open. Junhui’s heart starts to hammer loudly in his chest, nervousness suddenly taking over him. He doesn’t know why he’s _nervous_ of all things but he can’t help it. Minghao is whistling when he comes inside, the tune of a familiar song coming from his mouth when Junhui turns to watch the man come in. His eyes widen slightly when he does, surprised to see how well, pretty he is. Minghao is wearing a jumpsuit that’s only half put on, the top half is tied around his waist to reveal a white t-shirt. It’s covered in a speckled paint design with words on the back he can’t read. His caramel brown hair is decorated with two hair clips, though not exactly holding anything back or in place. The jewelry on him is immediately noticeable as well; hoop earrings and an industrial bar in one ear, a helix on the other. He’s wearing rings as well, just three on one hand but flashy enough to notice. Of all things he imagined to walk through the room, it wasn’t this. Junhui’s sure his mouth is left open when Minghao jumps in surprise when he notices him.

“Shit,” Minghao gasps, his hand coming up to his chest, wide eyes meeting Junhui’s. “Fuck, I mean.. Sorry, I mean… you scared me,” Minghao struggles to get out. He knows right away this is obviously Mr. Wen, who he’s never met before, and cursing right away is probably not a good impression to make. Not that Minghao wanted to particularly make a good impression. Junhui laughs lightly and steps off the counter.

“Sorry about that, didn’t mean to scare you,” Junhui replies with a warm smile. Due to Minghao’s babbling of surprise, Junhui was able to compose himself and not appear as nervous as he is. He claps his hands together to get rid of some of the dust then outstretches his hand. “I’m Mr. Wen,” He says, “Er- Junhui, you can call me Junhui.” Minghao blinks up at him in response, taking just a second to gather both how well, beautiful this man before him is as well as how tall.

“Minghao,” He replies, taking his hand, “Though I’m sure you knew that.” He gives him his own smile. There’s a pause of awkward silence as they let go of each other’s hands. “Oh you did the projects!” Minghao says when he notices the work Junhui was in the middle of putting up on the wall. Junhui follows his eyes to the wall as well and smiles brightly.

“The kids loved it, and I’m so glad they came out well,” Junhui says happily. “Thank you so much for the ideas, I’m terrible with art, I had no idea what I was doing,” he admits.

“No problem, they look so much better than I could have thought,” Minghao says, taking a step closer to take them all in. Junhui watches him, once again taking in the appearance of the pretty boy. Minghao notices this and turns to look at him, a tiny smile on his face. He doesn’t point it out though. “You know you look a lot younger than I thought you’d be for 25,” Minghao says. Junhui can’t help the tinge of pink on his cheeks in response. He scratches the back of his neck and laughs quietly.

“That’s good right?” he asks. For some reason he’s forgotten how to carry on a regular conversation.

“Young _and_ pretty? I’m sure everyone would like to be that, yes,” Minghao hums, walking back around him to find one of the trash cans. Junhui blushes even harder. Never would he have thought Minghao would be telling him this of all things.

“Uh,” Junhui struggles to let out, attempting to follow up with a better response.

“How’re the kids doing?” Minghao asks instead, eyes not on him as he occupies himself with his own job. Junhui collects himself and decides he should do the same.

“Good, they’re great. They love you, you know? I’m really grateful that you’ve replied to our messages, you never had to but you did and it’s helped me a lot,” Junhui says, his shyness fading away when he gets started talking about his students. He steps back up onto the counter and collects more artwork to put up.

“How could I not? They’re too cute. And how am I going to miss an opportunity to talk about myself?” Minghao jokes. Junhui laughs in response.

“I’m sure they know more about you than things we’re supposed to be learning in class.” Thankfully this isn’t exactly true. Junhui has at least managed to teach them as much as he can these past two months. “The fact they don’t know who you are at all makes them think you’re a magical existence.” Minghao smiles. Besides the questions asked, he really didn’t know what these kids could be like, if they cared much about him besides just wanting to write on the board.

“Magical? I’ll take it,” Minghao says with a hum. He turns to look at the whiteboard to read the new questions put up. Junhui turns to look at him as he uncaps a marker to begin replying to them. To see him, in person, writing on the board just like he’s been doing for the past several weeks, is really heartwarming. Minghao isn’t just some random person who writes to his class out of boredom, he can tell Minghao enjoys it himself. There’s more to him that Junhui secretly wishes he could discover. It’s hard to not be as interested as he’s been in Minghao’s existence when there’s been all this mystery for so long. Junhui always wanted to know more, wanted to meet him, wanted to see him as a person. The curiosity after all got the best of him to the point he stayed late at the school to meet him.

“Thank you, again,” Junhui says quietly as he steps off the counter. “I know we say it every day but, I just wanted to make sure you really knew how grateful we were.” Minghao chuckles and turns to face him.

“I’m just doing my job,” he replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

“You’ve done way more than just your job, really, I couldn’t thank you enough,” Junhui insists, sincerity in his eyes. Minghao doesn’t really know how to react to this but he smiles.

“Anything for you guys,” Minghao replies and this time they fall into a more comfortable silence. They both get back to work and within a few minutes Minghao is leaving the room once again and Junhui is left to sink into what just happened.

 

It’s November 7th, Junhui and his class are taking the last twenty minutes of class to decorate the room. Of course everyone remembers when Minghao’s birthday is and who is Junhui to stop them from showing Minghao how much they truly appreciate him. It was Jasmin’s idea to decorate the room for Minghao and bring him cupcakes of his favorite flavor: Strawberry. So of course it’s Jasmin who’s given the role to decide how to decorate the room for Minghao. Everyone gets to leave messages on the board today. There were no questions this time, just dozens of ‘Happy Birthday’s ‘Thank you’s and ‘We love you!’. They use up both boards to include a drawing for him since they were all aware that he’s studying Art and wanted to show off some of their own talent. Along with that, they made a collective finger painting on a large canvas of a beautiful rainbow. Junhui also takes it upon himself to buy a gift for Minghao. It includes a variety of art supplies as well as a box of his favorite candy. The class manages to finish up just as the bell rings and they are all dismissed, excitedly talking about what Minghao will do or say when he sees the room. Junhui wishes he could see his reaction himself but heads home himself as well. After they’d first met, the individual messages with him had advanced, up to the point where Minghao left his number for Junhui, suggesting he text him with the excuse of needing direct help with any art related activities. Jun was yet to send him any messages, not really knowing what to say, despite the fact they’ve been leaving post it note messages for each other every day. They’ve gotten a lot deeper with their conversation, this time Minghao learning more about who Junhui is.

 

**Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day today!**

 

Is what Junhui finally gets himself to type out for Minghao on the morning of his birthday. Minghao thanked him as well as teased him for taking so long to text him. Junhui doesn’t receive anymore replies from him until a while after 5pm. It’s a picture, a selfie actually of himself with the background of the decorated room and a very excited looking Minghao. Junhui can’t help the large smile on his face. He can’t help it when he zooms in on the smiling Minghao in the picture, admiring the features of his face in the way he couldn’t before. _How did he end up being this beautiful?_

A second message comes in with Minghao asking if he now has to clean up his own birthday party. It’s a joke obviously but Junhui immediately feels a pang of guilt. He didn’t even consider the fact Minghao is the only one who would be cleaning up that mess.

 

**No, no please don’t. I’ll come in early tomorrow to clean it up!**

 

Junhui replies then proceeds to hit his own forehead, really thinking he couldn’t be more stupid.

 

**And not do my job? Very funny**

 

**Please, I’ll clean it up :(**

 

**Aw, even a frowny face, that’s almost convincing…**

 

**:((**

 

It’s about fifteen minutes later when Minghao finally replies, a picture of himself again with the background completely clean and Minghao giving him a sad face. Junhui sighs and shakes his head. Next time he really needs to use his brain.

 

A couple of weeks later, it’s nearing the end of the first semester of school. Junhui and Minghao talk more often now, getting to know each other, though didn’t take it further than just texting. Junhui can consider Minghao a friend now, he feels a lot closer to him and hopes Minghao feels the same as well. He pretends he doesn’t notice the obvious flirting Minghao does though, not sure why he can’t get the nerve to flirt back or take it anywhere further. It’s only because Junhui isn’t sure what Minghao is expecting from him when he compliments him or teases him or even the one time he’s sure Minghao was making a sexual joke. Soonyoung continues to tease Junhui for all of this because Junhui refuses to admit he does sort of have a tiny crush on Minghao and won’t do anything about it. There’s no way Junhui can stop him though when Minghao suggests coming into the class to teach the kids about painting. It’s something the entire class always wants and Junhui can’t decline the offer even if wanted to. Though he had actually declined in text messages, Minghao decided Junhui wouldn’t be able to say no if he asked on the board for everyone to see. There’s no getting out of it.

 

“Everyone, I know we’re all excited, so I’d like you to finally welcome Mr. Xu,” Junhui tells the class on the morning of the day Minghao comes in to teach the class. They’re all over the moon to meet him, excitement showing clear on their faces. Minghao is overwhelmed by it, mostly because he has no experience with being around kids much. He’s of course nervous to be there, not wanting to mess anything up or confuse the kids. Unlike Junhui, he has no kind of background with teaching children. Fortunately, he doesn’t do a bad job, and the kids are all excited to learn. Throughout the lesson and activity Minghao answers their eager questions and goes around helping each one of them with their project. They’re all painting a made up scenery. Minghao went over a few basic techniques that he figured the kids would be able to catch on with then gave them the freedom to paint any kind of scenery they wanted. Some of them painted mountains, some the beach, grassy hills, etc. Minghao was happy to see how so many of them were painting wonderfully. It helped that they learned before how to mix paints and looked like true artists with their canvases.

Junhui is in awe, both for how well the students are doing and Minghao’s own abilities. It’s obvious Minghao absolutely loves this and is able to connect easily with the kids. There’s a large smile on Minghao’s face that Junhui can’t help but admire. His lips are almost glued into a perfect grin, eyes crinkled and a shimmer in his eye. Junhui thinks he’s more beautiful than any art he’s seen. Not only has Minghao shown him how lovely of a person he truly is, he’s really shown him his heart. Minghao loves to make people happy, whether it be with his art, or in any other way. He’s kind hearted and the care he shows for Junhui’s class is just incredulous. Junhui feels entirely warm inside as he watches Minghao happily interact with the students, passion in his eyes and gentleness with his movements. Junhui’s not sure what to do with this feeling growing inside of him.

  


“Thank you so much,” Junhui tells Minghao, for maybe the hundredth time. Junhui had accepted Minghao’s suggestion to go to lunch together after the art lesson. Minghao rolls his eyes.

“Are you ever going to stop thanking me?” Minghao says with no actual malice.

“I kind of can’t,” Junhui says with a sigh.

“I’m happy to do it okay? I promise. Today was really fun, the kids were better than I expected,” Minghao confesses with a growing smile on his thin lips.

“They really like you,” Junhui tells him, glad to see Minghao smile at the thought of the class.

“I hope they’re not the only ones,” Minghao says, taking a sip of his strawberry lemonade then blinking up at Junhui. He thickly swallows in response and feels heat growing in his cheeks.

“What do you mean?” Junhui asks, as if he didn’t know exactly what he meant. Minghao sighs then lets out a short laugh. The corners of his lips turn upward in a signature smile Junhui isn’t getting tired of.

“I mean, I hope _you_ like me too,” Minghao says without a bit of embarrassment. Of course this could be taken in multiple ways, but they both know exactly what he means.

“I do like you, why wouldn’t I? You’re such a big he-,”

“If you thank me one more time, Junhui,” Minghao threatens, a finger coming up to point at him. Junhui sighs and presses his lips together, trying not to smile.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says instead then pauses. “I do.”

“You do what?” Minghao hums, taking another long sip of his drink. This time he’s the one to play dumb. Junhui shakes his head in frustration. Confidence is truly not something he has.

“I do… like you,” Junhui says almost too quietly. Minghao attempts to meet his eyes but Junhui’s are stuck on the drink in front of him.

“Hey,” Minghao says, just barely above a whisper. This causes Junhui to look up at him now. Minghao smiles. “I’m glad you let me meet the kids,” he says. They both know Junhui is always more comfortable when they talk about his class. “And I’m happy that you let me be apart of your class. I may not have known you all for long but having you guys to look forward to and feeling like I matter to not just one person but over 20 kids, it’s nice. You all make me really happy,” Minghao confesses, the glow in his eyes failing to disappear. Junhui feels like his heart expanded an extra two sizes. “And I’m glad you’re the one to have given me that,” he adds, the warmth of his smile making Junhui feel all the nervousness disappear.

“You’re welcome to come by anytime again,” Junhui tells him. Minghao grins.

“Of course,” he pauses, “Though as much as I adore those kids, is it bad you’re more of the reason I’d want to come around again?” Minghao asks, his eyes practically, glued on the other. Though Junhui is cautious with the way he talks to Minghao and tries to present himself, it comes off obvious enough that despite that, Junhui _is_ actually interested in him. The blush that surfaces on the teacher’s cheeks is evidence enough.

“No… no it’s not bad,” Junhui says slowly, once again shifting his eyes away from Minghao but after a few seconds manages to get himself to look up at him again. “You don’t _have_ to visit the whole class to see me,” he adds, pressing his lips together before he continues, “I mean you know if you want to?” Junhui isn’t making much sense, he knows that, but Minghao can easily catch on.

“Oh you mean see you somewhere else, not at school? Like a date?” Minghao replies, smiling a little wider now. Junhui is caught off guard by the directness of his reply. He tries not to show his own embarrassment as he takes  a _long_ sip of his iced coffee. He honestly doesn’t know why Minghao makes him as nervous as he does. The effect he has on him is really too much. “Well?” Minghao says after too long of a pause of silence. His eyebrows raise in expectation, the smile still not gone.

“Well?” Junhui repeats, feigning confusion as he sinks into himself a tiny bit. Minghao can’t help the tiny laugh that leaves his lips.

“Ah, Mr. Wen,” Minghao breathes out through his soft giggles. Junhui can’t help but smile himself, finding the sound too pretty and innocent for the boldness the person exhibits. “Do I need to be more clear? Do you want to go on a date with me?” Minghao asks, leaning forward in his seat. Junhui’s blush is still as strong as ever, he really wishes it would go away.

“Yes,” he blurts out quickly this time. Of course he does, and he’s tired of his own self for being so timid about this whole conversation. “I’d love to,” he adds, softer this time, meeting Minghao’s eyes with more confidence.

“Great,” he replies, keeping his gaze on Junhui’s for a few more seconds before he takes a final sip of his lemonade. “Now we should get back to the school before your lunch is over,” he says, finally looking away to glance at his watch. Junhui nods, still not having been able to look away from the pretty boy in front of him. Is it his fault Minghao is this captivating?

  


April rolls around smoothly and slowly. Junhui and his class have improved well together, learned more together and grown together. It’s almost the end of the school year, with a little over a month left. So much has changed since August, all for the better of course. Junhui knows he still has a lot of room for improvement but he’s happy with himself for not giving up on his kids. He’s worked hard and he knows it, he can confidently tell himself he’s been doing the best he can. And if he ever forgets to remind himself how great of a job he’s doing, Minghao will be there to remind him. He’s yet to fail to do it. Afterall how supportive of a boyfriend would he be if he didn’t?

**Author's Note:**

> this was a mess but if i get the motivation MAYHAPS there will be a part two..


End file.
